Sunday, 1 January 2017

2017: France and the Islamic State (ISIS/Daesh)

JANUARY

In Iraq, Francois Hollande Says ISIS Battle Prevents Attacks At Home

Arbil, Iraq:
Western support for military action against the ISIS is key to
preventing attacks at home, French President Francois Hollande said on
Monday in Iraq, where yet another bombing killed dozens. A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car on a square in
Baghdad's Sadr City neighbourhood, killing at least 32 people in the
latest attack on the Iraqi capital claimed by ISIS. Later the
interior ministry said terrorsit gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed a
police station in the city of Samarra north of Baghdad, sparking
clashes.

France, one of the most active members of the US-led coalition fighting
the Sunni extremist group, is particularly concerned over the return of a
large contingent of French jihadists from Syria and Iraq.
"Taking
action against terrorism here in Iraq is also preventing acts of
terrorism on our own soil," he said at a base where French soldiers have
been training elite Iraqi forces.

Hollande, the only major
Western head of state to have visited Baghdad since the coalition was
set up in 2014, stressed that supporting Iraq was one of the surest ways
of securing Europe. Of European countries targeted by attacks
claimed or inspired by ISIS, France has been the worst hit, but there
have also been attacks in Belgium and Germany. Besides the
defeated terrorists expected to return to Europe, radicalised children
who grew up in the "caliphate" ISIS proclaimed in 2014 are also seen as
ticking bombs.

"We will have to deal with the issue of the return
of foreign fighters... who committed crimes, who brought their families
with them, including in some cases very young children," Hollande said. Since
it joined the United States in the coalition in September 2014, France
says its warplanes have conducted 5,700 sorties, around 1,000 strikes
and destroyed more than 1,700 targets.

'Before Summer'

France has 14 Rafale warplanes taking part in coalition operations from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. It
also has 500 soldiers training and advising elite Iraqi forces and
CAESAR artillery vehicles stationed south of Mosul to support ongoing
operations to retake the city. Hollande met Iraqi President Fuad
Masum, a Kurd, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, from the largest
Shiite political bloc, and called for reconciliation and unity after
ISIS is defeated.

He then flew to the northern city of Arbil,
capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, where he met local leader
Massud Barzani. He said just before leaving Iraq that he was told
that the battle to retake Mosul, the last major jihadist stronghold in
the country, could last several more months. "It was confirmed to us that we could possibly achieve this goal in spring, in any case before summer," he said. Hollande added that the focus would then move to Raqa, IS's other major bastion, in neighbouring Syria. "If
Daesh is eradicated in Iraq but remains in Syria, we know full well
that acts will be carried out here in the Middle East but also on our
own soil in France, in Europe," he said.

Hollande
began his trip at a base near Baghdad where French forces are training
Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service, which has spearheaded most major
anti-ISIS operations in Iraq since 2014. It was CTS that first breached Mosul's city limits late last year in an effort to retake it from ISIS. But
the going has been tough for Iraqi forces, partly because hundreds of
thousands of civilians have remained in the city, slowing their advance.

Belgium Charges 2 New Suspects Over Paris Attacks: Prosecutor

Brussels: Belgium
has charged two new suspects in connection with the November 2015 Paris
attacks claimed by the ISIS group which left 130 people dead, federal
prosecutors said on Thursday.The two -- identified as Farid K.
and Meryem E. B. -- are "suspected to have provided Khalid El Bakraoui
with the false documents afterwards used in preparation of the Paris
attacks," a statement said.Farid K. has "been charged with participation in the activities of a
terrorist group, falsification of documents and use of false documents,"
the prosecutor's office said.

Meryem E.B. "has been charged with falsification of documents and use of false documents," it said. Farid K. has been placed in police custody while Meryem E.B was released under "strict" conditions, it added. Belgian police were holding three people for
questioning after anti-terror raids late Saturday in central Brussels,
reports said. Four raids took place in the Molenbeek district but
no arms or explosives were found, the Belga news agency said, citing a
spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor's office.

'I'm Not Ashamed' Says Paris Attacks Suspect: Report

Paris: The main
suspect in the Paris attacks said he was "not ashamed" in a letter to a
woman who has been writing to him in prison, according to extracts
published in the French press Friday. Salah Abdeslam has refused
to respond to questions from French judges about the November 13, 2015
attacks in which 130 people died at the hands of ISIS terrorists.

But
in correspondence with an anonymous woman published by the daily
newspaper Liberation he appeared "talkative for the first time," the
paper said. "First of all, I'm
not afraid of letting anything slip because I'm not ashamed of what I am
-- and then what worse could be said than what's already been said,"
Abdeslam wrote, according to the extract from his investigation file.

"In Iraq, the coalition operation allowed to reconquest of a large part
of the lost territory thanks to the help of Iraqi forces and
Peshmergas," Xinhua quoted Hollande as saying. "IS is retreating
and the objective is to oust it from Mosul ... I think it's possible ...
to liberate the city before summer," he added.

Paris estimates 700 citizens in IS ranks in Syria, Iraq

Paris, Jan 19: French anti-terrorist services estimate that there are about 700 French residents in the ranks of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
They also added that there are around 1,000 who still reside in France
but would like to join the terrorist organisation, Efe news reported.
Loic Garnier, head of the Counter-Terrorism Coordination Unit
(UCLAT), said in an interview on Wednesday, that it is not known the
level of danger of each of those jihadists, who face difficulties in
entering Syria and Iraq, while secret services are working to uncover
their ideology.
At the same time, about 200 IS fighters have been
identified to have been in Syria or Iraq but have returned to France,
and others who still want to return, but the restrictions on Turkey's
borders and the military situation make their trip more difficult.

According
to UCLAT, in the areas controlled by IS, there are some 290 French
women, or women who are French residents, and 460 French children, one
third of whom have been born there.